1916

The ‘wrong’ Hitlerbunker
Location: Road between Fromelles and Aubers (D141), just a few steps from the road
Today: Still there
On both sides of the road between Fromelles and Aubers are a lot of bunkers. One of them is the so called Hitlerbunker, the bunker where Hitler was said to have been stationed. There is no prove of that. And there are no pictures of Hitler visiting the bunker in when he was in the area in 1940. The bunker he did visit is on the Rue de la Biette (see below). Considering the fact that Hitler and his regiment were in the area for nine months, he must have known this bunker.

The bunker is a German bunker, but why it’s called the Hitlerbunker is not sure.
(pictures: the Hitlerpages, 2007)

Farm where Hitler was stationed
Location: Southern edge of Fromelles, on the D22, last farm on the left
Today: Still there
Hitler was stationed at a farm on the edge of Fromelles in WW1. In 1940 he visited the farm again, as you can see on one of the pictures. Hitler also made a drawing of a Verbandplatz in Fromelles. If this Verbandplatz (or Sanitätsunterstand) is the same as the farm on the picture is not sure. The farm obviously has changed and the house next to it (look at Hitlers drawing) has entirely gone, but Hitler’s work was redone years later by other artists, so it could be changed. The so called Regimentsbefehlstelle was located on the opposite side of the road. Since 1940 the farm didn’t change that much on the outside, though.

Hitler in Fromelles in 1940

A look of what’s behind the farm
(picture: the Hitlerpages, 2009)

The exact same farm today
(picture: the Hitlerpages, 2009)

Could this be the same farm as the one drawn by Hitler?
(picture: the Hitlerpages, 2009)

A drawing made by Hitler (probably redone) of a farm in Fromelles, that was the ‘Verbandplatz’ of the regiment of Hitler in 1915.
(Russel, 2006)

FROMELLES (FRANCE)

Fromelles May 1915 weergeven op een grotere kaart

The drawing ‘Unterstand’ (Shelter) was made by Hitler in 1915.
(Russel, 2006)

House on the road between Fromelles and Aubers (picture: Meijer, 1934)

Unterstand Fromelles

(picture: Solleder, 1932)

SOME OTHER PICTURES AND DRAWINGS OF THE FROMELLES AREA:

‘Road’ between Fromelles and the front line (picture: Meijer, 1934)

House on the road between Fromelles and Aubers (picture: Solleder, 1932)

House on the road between Fromelles and Aubers (picture: Meijer, 1934)

The church of Fromelles

(picture: Solleder, 1932)

Fromelles 1916

(picture: Meijer, 1934)

The station of Fromelles

(picture: Meijer, 1934)

Fromelles

(picture: Meijer, 1934)

The church of Aubers

(picture: Meijer, 1934)

Rote Banke

Location: Rue Delval/ Rue de Leval, (see maps for exact location)

Today: Unsure. It was already ruïned in WW1.

The Rote Banke is another location that’s on the maps of Hitlers regiment. Hitler must have known this location.

The Rote Banke
(picture: Meijer, 1934)

Befehlstelle Bayern

Location: Southeast of the Deleval Ferme, exact location unknown

Since Hitler had to bring messages from and to the commanding officers the locations where the commanders were located are important. The location of this Befehlstelle is still unkown, but there’s a picture of it. Untill now I found no source that says Hitler was here.

Befehlstelle Bayern
(picture: Meijer, 1934)

House on an aquarel made by Adolf Hitler
Location: Unknown
Hitler drew a picture entitled Houbardin in 1916.

An aquarel of Adolf Hitler entitled Haubourdin (Russel, 2006)

HAUBOURDIN (FRANCE)

A drawings Hitler made near Fromelles. The aquarel ‘Haus mit weissem Zaun’ is made northwest of Fromelles, near the ‘Roten Banke’, in 1915. A lot of drawings of Adolf Hitler were redone or coloured by a better artist after 1933.
(Russel, 2006)

Rote Banke and the House mit weissem Zaun

Location: Rue Delval (on the corner of the road to Pétillon) Look at the map for the exact locations.

Today: Unknown, but there are still houses there.

Hitler knew the area the Germans called the Rote Banke very well. He drew a picture of the ‘Haus mit weissem Zaun’ that was also on the Rue Delval.

January - September - Fromelles

Somewhere in the beginning of 1916 - Sante

Resting time as reserve troops in Sante. When Hitler has a day off, he often goes to Lille.

January – February - Fromelles

Hitlers regiment carries out feint attacks as distraction from the offensive in Verdun.

January 15 - Haubourdin and back to Fromelles

The 1st batallion goes to Haubourdin for a parade for King Lüdwig III. After that they go back to Fromelles

The command of the the first line is located at the Teehaus on the Gartenstraße. (The Gartenstrasse could be the street between Aubers and Fromelles.)

The Sanitätsunterstand of RIR 16 was located opposite to the Regimentsbefehlstelle.

July 1 -November 18 - Hitlers regiment takes part of the Battle of the Somme (France) and sees heavy action at Fromelles (northern France) and Baupame (Somme region, France).

Starting July 19 British and Australian divisions fought with the German soldiers near the village of Fromelles, as a distraction from the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme took place in the area of Baupame and Albert (France).

July, first week - Hitler is on a leave. He visites Brussels. A postcard to an a fellow soldier of July 6, 1916 says that this is the most beautiful journey he has ever done, exept for the rain that keeps falling.

July 19 - La Bassée, Wavrin, Fromelles

The 1st batallion serves as Brigade-Resderve at La Bassée. The batallions staf is at Wavrin. Arrival at front Fromelles at 1 o’clock (at night). The batallion travelled by train.

July 19/20 - Fromelles

Battle of Fromelles. Attack of the Australian army.

July - September 24/25 - Fromelles

In the night of September 24/25 the regiment left the trenches of Fromelles for the last time.

Left: Hitler (first row, left) with his fellow-soldiers somewhere in Belgium or France in front of a Regimentsstab building (1916)
Right: Hitler (top row centre) in 1916 in a lazaret in Beelitz (Germany)
(pictures: Russel, 2006)

In 1916 Hitler and his regiment were stationed in Vlaanderen and French-Vlaanderen. The regiment was in Fromelles most of the time. Because the pictures and information about Fromelles is already on the 1915 page, a part of it is repeated on this page. Some maps of the area are only on the 1915 page. In 1916 Hitler got woonded in Le Bargue and was brought to the Red Cross Military Hospital in Beelitz.

BELGIUM and FRANCE

1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 - 1918

September 24/25 - Fromelles

RIR 16 leaves the trenches of Fromelles for the last time.

The 1st batallion goes to Loos (east of Haubourdin), the 2nd and 3rd batallion go to Haubourdin.

September 26/27 - Travelling towards the Somme in the region of Cambrai

The regiment (all batallions and regiment staf) leaves from Haubourdin station (the railroad track is north of the Rue Gabriek Péri today) and goes to:

Hermies (1st batallion); Iwuy (2nd batallion + regiment staf).

By foot they go to: Bancourt (1st batallion); Frémicourt (the rest of the troops).

September 28 – October 1- Riencourt-Villers au Flos

The regiment has to work on the German positions Riencourt-Villers au Flos.

October 2 - Frémicourt, Bapaume, Le Bargue

The regiment joins the battle at the Somme. It has to go to Frémicourt, and be ready to leave.

The complete regiment was to go to the lines between Bapaume and Le Bargue, but only the first batallion goes there, behind the front line. The regiment staf is located at Bapaume.

Location of the 1st and 2nd batallion: south of Le Barque – Ligny – Thilloy.

The 1st batallion goes to the village of Le Bargue.

October 2/3 - Le Bargue

The 1st batallion goes to the front.

The second Befehlstelle of the batallion commander is in Le Bargue, near the Regimentsbefehlstelle (exact location not mentioned). The companies on the frontline from left to right (?): 5, 4, 3, 8, 2, 1.

October 6 + 7 - English attack

October 7 - Le Bargue/Le Bargur

Hitler gets wounded in the thigh during the Battle of the Somme. He is brought to the Sammellazarett in Hermies.

October 9 – December 1 - Germany

Hitler recovers in a Red Cross Military Hospital in Beelitz (Germany). He also visits Berlin in this period.

Locations of the List regiment when Hitler was in Germany:

Le Bargue, Spatnyriegel, Bapaume, Sancourt, Tilloy (Tilloy-les-Cambrai).

October 1916 – February 1917 Vimy Höhe

October 16 Vimy Höhe (Hitler not present)

Train from Sancourt to Billy-Montigny, from there by foot to the shelters.

Location of the trenches of RIR 16: west of Vimy, with the front line on the flat side of the Vimy Höhe, the wooded side. The defense line was about where the highway runs today.

October 17 – 19 Vimy Höhe (Hitler not present)

Batallions go to the front. The first batallion stands reserve at Merincourt or Douai.

December 3 - München

Hitler returns to a reserve batallion in München (Germany). He stays in Germany untill March 1917.

Beelitz-Heilstätten (southwest of Berlin)
Location: Street from Beelitz to Fichtenwalde, between the trees
Today: The large hospital has fallen into decay, but it’s still there.
Hitler was at the red cross hospital in Beelitz between October 9 and December 1, 1916 to recover from war injuries. We he recovered he went to Berlin for the first time. It is known that he went to see the Nationalgalerie.

Left: Beelitz hospital
Right: Hitler at Beelitz, Hitler is the second man from the right in the back row (pictures: Russel, 2006)

BEELITZ (BRANDENBURG - GERMANY)

Vimy höhe
Location: Chemin De Neuville
Today: After WW1 a monument was built for the Canadian soldiers that fought in World War 1. There’s also a graveyard and you can visit some tunnels and trenches here.
Hitler s regiment was here in the end 1916 and the beginning of 1917. Hitler was not there, because of an injury he was treated for in Germany. Hitler did visit the Vimyhöhe later in his life: on June 2, 1940.

GIVENCHY EN GOHELLE (FRANCE)

RIENCOURT-VILLERS (FRANCE)

Unterstand
Location: Unknown
There’s a picture of Hitler inside an Unterstand of Ordonanzen in Riencourt-Villers. Hitlers regiment was there to work on the German positions in the area.

A picture of Hitler (first man on the left) in a shelter in Reincourt-Villers

Cambrai weergeven op een grotere kaart

Bapaume weergeven op een grotere kaart

A map of the Somme region with Le Bargue on it. Here Hitler got wounded. More research is needed to get information about exact locations related to Hitler in this region. (Solleder, 1932)

LE BARGUE (FRANCE)

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HISTORICAL HITLER SITES

The ‘real’ Hitlerbunker
Location: At the end of Rue de la Biette (outside the village) is a soccerfield, behind it in the fields is the bunker
Today: Still there
Of this German bunker can be proven that Hitler was there in 1940, because there are pictures made of the event. What the bunker ment fot Hitler in WW1 is not clear.

Hitler visited this bunker in 1940 (pictures: Heinrich Hoffmann)

The bunker today

(picture: the Hitlerpages, 2007)

Adolf Hitler and his fellow couriers somewhere in the fields in 1916

(picture: Weber, 2010)

Théatre de l’Opéra
Location: Boulevard Carnot
Today: The Opéra was renewed in 1923 and 2004. It is called the Opéra de Lille.
In the period between January and July 1916 Hitler often went to Lille when he was on a leave. In one of the villages near Fournes-en-Weppes was a tramline to Lille. Most of the soldiers that went to Lille on a day off went to the bars in Lille, but Hitler mostly didn’t. Sometimes he went to the theatre of the Deutsche Theater Lille that did performances at the Théatre de l’Opera. At other times he just wandered through the city. (source: Weber, 2010)

The Opéra of Lille in 1916
(picture: wikipedia)

LILLE (FRANCE)

The Opéra of Lille in today
(picture: wikipedia)

A view from the side shows that it’s the same operahouse as the one on the picture made in 1916.